Interim expressway chief offered $50,000 raise to stay longer

The reluctant interim director of Metro Orlando's road-building agency likely will extend his stay at the agency for a year, in part because he may receive a $50,000 raise.

Max Crumit was hired in December at a salary of $180,000 a year with the understanding that he would run the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority for four to six months.

But board members have been so enamored of his work that they have continually asked him to stay, preferably as the full-time top administrator. He has declined, saying he enjoys working in the private sector better.

Now, a board member has written a memo asking Crumit to continue at the authority through the end of the next state legislative session, set to start in March 2013 and end in May. To make it worth his while, agency director Tanya Wilder said Crumit should be paid the average salary of three other toll road directors in the state.

That would put Crumit's pay between $230,000 and $235,000 a year.

"He has my whole support and trust," Wilder said. "He's a consummate professional."

Agency Chairman Walter Ketcham said he supports Wilder's recommendation and has discussed it with Crumit. The plan likely will be discussed during a board meeting Friday.

"I'd like to see him do it," Ketcham said of extending Crumit's employment. "We've got a thoroughbred in this position right now."

Crumit told the Orlando Sentinel that he is amenable to the deal, but only if the board allows him to walk away in a year.

"We ought to move forward assuming a finality to this," Crumit said.

Crumit was hired in December, after former authority director Mike Snyder was pushed out because board members, led by Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, were displeased with the agency's precarious finances.

Several people applied for the job, including Crumit, who previously worked for the PBS&J engineering firm that has been a major consultant to the authority for decades. Crumit also worked at RS&H of Jacksonville, which has a $2.8 million contract with the authority for engineering and design work on a new interchange.

Crumit took the authority job by saying he would quit at RS&H, including divesting himself of a small interest in the company, and work at whatever salary the board deemed appropriate.

Board members since have praised his management style, saying he is more open to suggestions than Snyder and has worked well with the Florida Department of Transportation, which often joins with the authority to build toll roads.

Ketcham and Wilder want Crumit to stay on through the legislative session because state politicians have threatened to combine the authority with the Florida agency that operates Florida's Turnpike. An agreement to build the $1.66 billion Wekiva Parkway with the state also remains unsigned.

In her memo, Wilder said, she wants Crumit to spend the next year working on "staffing efficiencies, finance plans for Wekiva, bond rating agency presentations and possible recurring consolidation efforts."